Celebrants of Hanukkah use the same menorah year after year; some are family heirlooms. Kwanzaa’s symbols, which include a cup, mat and candles, are either reused or eaten. But only Christmas requires that a crop be grown and cultivated simply to be cut down, decorated — and kicked to the curb (where they can be picked up to be chipped).

The exact origins of the Christmas tree tradition are unclear, but religions around the world, from ancient Druidic believers to more contemporary practitioners of Haitian Vodou, hold certain trees to be sacred. A 16th century legend credits church reformer Martin Luther with being the first to decorate an indoor tree for Christmas. The story says he was trying to explain to his family the experience of walking through the forest with the stars overhead. He supposedly brought a small fir tree into the house and decorated it with candles.

Hessian troops from Germany are said to have brought the Christmas tree tradition with them to America during the Revolutionary War. According to www.christmas-tree.comthe tradition of selling Christmas trees at retail lots in the city began in 1851 when a farmer named Mark Carr hauled trees into New York City on two ox-drawn sleighs and sold them

In Oregon, live Christmas trees mean the year’s income for tree farmers. Eight million trees were cut on tree farms in Oregon in 2006, and the sale of those trees contributed $126 million to Oregon’s economy, according to the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association. Oregon is the biggest producer of Christmas trees in the country. Almost half of Oregon’s trees are sold to our neighbors in California for more than double what it costs to buy the tree in Oregon.

Eugeneans have a variety of choices for how to get trees. The evergreens are sold at stores and at retail lots, or you can take a trek out to one of our area’s tree farms and choose your own tree. The U-cut farms often also have sleigh rides and Christmas caroling to complete the experience.

If you really want the old-fashioned Christmas tradition, you can go into the woods and cut your own tree. However, it’s illegal to just go out onto public lands and cut a tree. First you need to get a permit from the Forest Service or the BLM. You also may want to bring along a tree guide. The OSU Extension service says the neophyte tree cutter can’t always tell a noble fir from a sub-alpine, and nobles are the least likely to drop needles all over your living room floor.

Not everyone agrees that cutting a tree is a friendly tradition. One EW reader wrote on a recent Best of Eugene survey that Christmas trees are a “source of agony for many.” Conservationists have taken issue with the Christmas tree tradition for over 100 years. President Theodore Roosevelt banned Christmas trees from the White House in 1901, fearing the tradition would decimate the forests, says an article in American Forests. His sons supposedly smuggled a tree in anyway, and appealed to Roosevelt’s friend, the forester Gifford Pinchot, to tell their dad Christmas trees were OK. Pinchot allegedly explained to Roosevelt that Christmas trees could be grown and harvested sustainably. 1901 is also the year the first Christmas tree farm was planted, when W.V. McGalliard planted 25,000 Norway spruce on his farm in New Jersey.

The National Christmas Tree Association argues that real trees are more ecologically sound than artificial ones. Artificial trees are petroleum-based, primarily made in China and not biodegradable, to put it mildly. A real tree absorbs carbon as it grows, smells great in the house and can be recycled or biodegraded — and in Eugene, at least, is locally grown.

Of course, if your tree-induced agony outweighs your holiday ecstasy and you don’t mind attracting local wildlife, you might consider decorating a tree in your yard with edible ornaments of peanut-butter filled pinecones or other tasty bird and squirrel treats. Or you could buy a potted tree, decorate it for a few years and then plant it.

But if you want the other kind, you’re in the right place. For more information on local Christmas tree farms, go to www.nwtrees.com or to cut your own Christmas tree, contact Willamette National Forest at 225-6300.

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